Explorers of Light: Temporal Arc
by HawkRider
Summary: Time is an awkward dimension. It flows freely, rarely stopping, bending, adjusting it's flow. Sometimes, the flow can be controlled. Sometimes it can be damaged, and made to warp and spiral. Time bends back on itself, stops, accelerates. There is nothing that can control it. All anyone can do is try to turn back time, and fix it.
1. Prologue: A Storm at Sea

Darkness.

Cold. Wet.

_Where am I?_

_I can't feel... Anything._

_Am I alive?  
_

_What happened to...?  
_

_No..._

_Fading._

…

…

…

Light.

Warm. Dry.

_Where am I?_

_Sand..._

_A beach?_

_Did I survive?_

_What happened?_

_I must stay awake_

_..._

_I can't..._

_Fading..._

…

…

…

_I hear someone._

_Help, please!_

"_..."_

_No good._

_Can't speak._

_Please. Help me..._

_Save us all..._


	2. Awakening

**Hello everybody, and welcome to my rewrite of a fic that quickly spluttered and died when I first tried it. This is _Explorers of Light_. And as you saw, the first arc. Yep, I've put some more thought into this.**

**This is still loosely based on _Explorers of Sky_, but I've mixed it up a fair bit more than last time. Not just different characters now. Instead, there are new plot points and even some new...**

**No, I will not give you guys spoilers. Just know that now, that old fic of mine _Stalker_ is not canon. Mostly because of the main character. Well, enjoy. Here is chapter one.**

* * *

"Buck up Lai."

"Please stop teasing me Eve." Lai sighed wearily, padding up and down in front of the tent.

"It's easy." Eve sighed, moving onto her paws. "All you do is stand on a grate. Look." Before her friend could react, Eve walked towards the entrance of the tent, standing firmly on the grate covering the pit in front of the tent.

"FOOTPRINT DETECTED! FOOTPRINT DETECTED!"

"WHOSE FOOTPRINT? WHOSE FOOTPRINT?"

"THE FOOTPRINT IS EEVEE'S! THE FOOTPRINT IS EEVEE'S!"

"What's going on?" Lai asked, looking for the source of the voices.

"Don't worry about it." Eve turned towards Lai, smiling and waving her tail behind her. "Come on."

"WHO'S YOUR FRIEND? STAND ON THE GRATE!"

Eve moved off of the grate, starting to groom her hair, then watched as Lai nervously walked forwards.

"FOOTPRINT DETECTED! FOOTPRINT DETECTED!"

"WHOSE FOOTPRINT? WHOSE FOOTPRINT?"

"THE FOOTPRINT IS SHINX'S! THE FOOTPRINT IS SHINX'S!"

Lai gave a small yelp of surprise, jumping backwards. He hadn't expected the voices to be so loud.

"You're being a chicken," Eve sighed. "Even with that fragment of your's."

"I'm sorry." Lai looked at the ground, ashamed of himself. "I really thought I could do it." He pawed at the pouch hanging from around his neck, feeling the comfortable weight of the stone there.

"What a shame." Eve's tone was resigned. "I'd even bought you a gift. How upset you must be."

"I thought friends were meant to encourage each other."

"Yes, but best friends pretend to hate each other. Why don't we go to the beach? Try to recover those shaken nerves of yours."

"All right." The two began to walk down the steps behind them, almost silent.

"Did you hear that?" Lai asked.

"Hear what?"

"Never mind."

* * *

"This feels so nice!" Eve shouted, grinning as she ran down towards the shoreline.

"It is, isn't it?" Lai responded, looking up. Eve was looking back at him, smiling brightly.

"Come on!" Eve called, jumping into the water and beginning to paddle around, laughing. "Or are you too chicken to even do that?"

Lai grinned at the challenge, bounding forwards and leaping into the water, splashing Eve when he landed.

"Jerk!" She laughed, splashing back.

"What's that?" Lai was looking back to the beach. He'd spotted something blue on the sand.

"What?" Eve asked. "Is it that blue thing?"

"Yeah." Lai began to paddle towards the blue thing, Eve following closely behind.

When she got closer, Eve gasped. "It's a Pokemon!"

"I don't think he's sunbathing..." Lai said, seeing some waves break over his body. "Hurry!"

The two arrived at the fainted Pokemon only a few minutes of swimming later. "What species is he?" Lai asked, rolling the Pokemon gently onto his back. He didn't recognise him, so he definitely wasn't from Treasure Town.

"No idea." Eve replied. "Come on, let's get him out of the water."

"All right." The two managed to nudge themselves under the Pokemon's arms, holding him up and managing to drag him further up the beach.

* * *

"... he?"

"... idea. Come... him out..."

"... right."

_What's happening? Who's talking? Luke? Mari? Jane?_

… _Who are they?_

_I can't remember..._

_I need to wake up._

"He's moving."

_A girl..._

_I need to..._

"Hello?"

"Are you all right?"

The Pokemon's eyes opened slowly, revealing red irises. They blinked a few times, then he shot upright, panting slightly.

"What's wrong?" The female voice asked.

"Where am I?"

"You're just outside of Treasure Town." The male voice said. "Who are you?"

"Who am I?" The Pokemon paused, feeling a headache build as he tried to remember. "My name... it's Kellyn."

"What type are you?" The female voice asked.

"What type...?"

"Yeah. You're a Pokemon, so you have a type." The female stated.

"I'm... not a Pokemon. I'm a human." Kellyn rubbed his head. _Where are my memories?_ He opened is eyes.

The sight of his hands made him gasp. They were covered in blue fur, two fingers missing from each hand. Over his wrists were grey ovals, looking almost like metal.

"I think you might have hit your head." The male smiled. "My name's Laith, but everyone calls me Lai. As you can see, I'm a Shinx." Lai smiled, tilting his head slightly. "The Eevee there is Eve."

"Don't fall for his cuteness." Eve said. "He's annoying. And not all that brave."

"I really am a human." Kellyn muttered. A faint memory came back to him, he was running alongside three other figures. One was a human, the other two were both Pokemon.

"Are you sure you're all right?" Lai asked, a worried look on his face.

"I'm fine." Kellyn replied.

"Really?"

"SUCKERS!"

The three turned, shocked, when the voice rang out behind them.

"You idiot!" Another voice yelled. "We could have escaped easily!"

"But you told me to say it." The first voice replied. He was an insect-looking Pokemon, with a black-and-gold armoured body and two white wings sprouting from it's back, each tipped with red. Two gray claws hung beneath it's body.

"Who are you?" Lai asked.

"The people who just robbed you blind." The second voice replied. This guy looked like a melting purple lump of something. "I am Fear, the idiot there is Despair."

"Your parents must have hated you." Eve commented.

"Well, we're off. After all, we have these!" As Fear shouted, Despair waved a pouch from each hand. "See you."

"Suckers!"

"No!" Lai yelled, running after them.

"Look out!" Eve warned, moments before a ball of sludge hit Lai in the face, knocking him backwards.

"They got away." Lai said.

_SHREEEEEEEK!_

"_It's a dead end."_

"_We must have lost them..."_

"_Keep looking! I don't want to loose..."_

"_Now, let's get out of here before they see us."_

_Flash..._

Kellyn clutched his head, his head having taken offence again.

"Kellyn!" Eve shouted.

"I'm... all right." He paused, the headache subsiding. _What was that?_

"Are you sure?" Lai asked, looking at him carefully.

"Yes. Now come on." Kellyn started walking.

"Where are you going?" Lai asked.

"To get your things back." Kellyn turned. "I don't like thieves."

"Let me help." Eve said, running up beside him.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course!" Eve smiled. "Lai, are you coming with us?"

"... Yes." Lai sounded reluctant. "Let's go."

"All right!" Eve cheered. "So, they were a Grimer and a Ninjask..."

* * *

"So..."

"You scared Lai?"

"Of the deep, dark cave with water everywhere and most likely Ghost Pokemon? A little."

"Keep up you two." Kellyn said, walking into the cave.

"You're not scared?" Lai asked, beginning to walk forwards without noticing.

"No. Couldn't tell you why though." Kellyn sighed. "I barely remember anything before waking up."

Eve walked up next to him. "Don't worry. I'm sure me and Lai can help you."

"Yeah, sure!" Lai said. "You can stay with me until you remember where you live. After all, there are bound to be Pokemon who miss you."

"Thank you. But I am human." Kellyn insisted.

"Humans don't turn into Pokemon." Lai told him.

"But I don't think he's lying." Eve responded, looking puzzled. "Let's think of it later. Isn't it a bit too quiet in here?"

The three of them stopped, listening. They couldn't hear anything.

"Maybe those two thieves knocked out the other Pokemon." Lai said, edging a little closer to the other two.

"No, look." Kellyn pointed, and the other two looked.

There was a puddle of water on the floor, barely visible in the light from the entrance. At first, they could see nothing unusual. Then, ripples began to form, heading inwards. They stopped after a few moments. When the last ripples reached the middle, some water jumped up, moving a short distance to bunch together and falling to the surface. Then a droplet rose, and kept on rising up to the cave roof.

"What's going on here?" Lai asked.

"Let's keep moving." Eve moved away from the puddle, the process repeating itself. "It's beginning to get cold down here."

"Sure." Lai said, following her.

_Why does this seem so..._

"You coming Kellyn?" Eve called. The two were a few meters away.

"Yes." He nodded, looking away as another droplet rose, and heading further into the depths.

* * *

"We've been walking for a while," Eve said. "It must be getting late."

"Probably," Lai responded. "The cave can't be that much deeper."

"It's not. I came down here once a few years ago." Eve told him. "Water didn't drip up then."

"It's widening out." Kellyn noticed.

Lai sighed. "This must be as deep as we can go then."

"It's a dead end." Kellyn confirmed. _Wait a minute..._

"We must have lost them..." Eve gave a sigh of frustration.

_This is what I heard earlier._ Kellyn paused.

"Keep looking! I don't want to loose my relic..." Lai began to circle the edge of the room, trying to find a way though. There was a strange glow coming from some walls, looking like a kind of glowing moss.

Kellyn closed his eyes, listening closely. There was a sound. "Behind us!" He shouted, startling the two Pokemon trying to sneak out behind them.

"Shoot." Fear said.

"Quick Attack!" Eve leapt forwards, moving too quickly for any of them to keep track of them. "Bite!" Eve appeared suddenly in front of Ninjask, biting down on the Pokemon hard and dragging him to the ground.

"Sludge!" Fear threw a handful of sludge towards Kellyn, who jumped out of the way.

"Spark!" Lai ran forwards, sparks of electricity flying from him.

"Shadow Sneak!" Despair disappeared into the ground, Eve loosing her grasp on him.

"Lai, look out!" Kellyn called, seeing the Ninjask's shadow slide over towards the Shinx.

"Sand Attack!" Eve cried out, turning to send sand from the ground towards the Grimer.

"Got him!" Lai slammed into Fear, sending a current through the Grimer's body.

"Kellyn!" The Riolu looked up towards Eve, then down to see a shadow moving towards him.

"I see!" He tried to think of what he can do. A move came into his mind, he figured he might as well try.

"Gotcha!" Despair burst from his shadow, his claws swinging.

"Force Palm!" Kellyn jumped forwards, one arm outstretched. He realised right as he slapped the Ninjask that the move hadn't worked.

"Look out!" Kellyn winced as the Ninjask suddenly crashed into him, both of them falling to the ground. Kellyn was knocked away from the other Pokemon as they landed, rolling as the other bounced away.

Soon, Kellyn stopped moving, and he took the opportunity to look up. The two thieves looked stunned in a pile a little way from him, Eve and Lai checking them over. After a few seconds, Lai pulled out a small pouch and tossed the strap over his head. Eve emerged with her own bag only a few moments later.

"Well, we've got our things," Eve said. "Let's get out of here. This place is really creepy."

* * *

"Let's hope the two of them haven't come around," Lai said. "The Magnemite should be able to bring them in if they are."

"We'll have to hope so." Eve responded, smiling now that they were back in the town. "It's out of our paws."

"It's gotten late," Kellyn commented. It felt strange to him to say that, but he ignored it.

"Eve, I think I can do it," Lai said.

"Well finally!"

"Do what?"

"Lai's always wanted to be an explorer, but he's always been a bit of a chicken. After we became friends, he started trying to go up to the Exploration Guild at the top of the hill just outside of town," Eve giggled slightly. "He's not been able to do it yet. Half the time, I have to drag him there."

"And you want to try again now?" Kellyn asked. Lai nodded confidently. "All right. I may as well join you."

"Really?" Lai's eyes sparkled.

"I don't have anywhere to go. " Kellyn shrugged. "I might as well find something to do while I'm trying to remember where I came from. Maybe we'll find it."

"All right then. Let's go!"

* * *

**All right, so some things are the same, some are very different. Such as the main characters. One removed, one completely changed.**

**Well anyway, I have every intention of continuing this story this time. I hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter, and that you will carry on reading. Enjoy the rest of the story you guys.**

**Disclaimer: Pokemon does not belong to me in any aspect. While I own the personality of most of the characters, there are at least two I cannot take credit for. They will be noted, and their creators mentioned.**


End file.
